‘Playing It My Way’ Hits Readers with Tendulkar’s Frank Revelations

A day after the release of the legend batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s much awaited autobiography ‘Playing It My Way,’ discussions are on full swing among his fans and readers.

The book which paved way for controversies before its launch contains the candid revelation by the legendary cricket man. The book was released in a ceremony on Wednesday in Mumbai, in the presence of some of the cricketers, celebrities and his family members. Tendulkar’s team mates Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly – were present at the event.

The first copy of his book was handed over to Ramakant Achrekar, saying, “I would like to present the first copy after launch to somebody very special in my life.”

Meanwhile, it was a moment of eagerness and amusement for the gathered in the ceremony to hear Sachin’s wife Anjali’s words which described how she met the cute wonder boy of cricket and fell for him, during the launch event.

The book has gained attention before its launch regarding Tendulkar’s comment on his former coach as ‘ringmaster’. The calm and quite Sachin Tendulkar before the audience turned to be a person using strong and harsh words while describing his experiences in the autobiography. The book appears to be a sum total of the legend’s memorable moments in career including his bitter experiences, disappointments, dissatisfactions, and proud moments.

The revelations in the book about the former Indian Coach Greg Chappell were supported by some of the team mates, who have also revealed that they too had bitter experiences from the coach. Cricketers VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh have also came up with revelations claiming that they too had been victims for Chappell. All the three players have shown their dissatisfaction for Chappell being their coach.

While Harbhajan reportedly commented that he has "temporarily destroyed Indian cricket" and targeted the senior players, Laxman said that Chappell took "Indian cricket backwards" during his two-year tenure as the national cricket team’s coach.

Whereas Zaheer responded claiming that Chappell has tried his best to prevent his comeback into the national team and called him a "control freak”. He reportedly said, "He had some issues with the senior guys in the team. He tried many ways to stop my comeback into Indian team during the phase when I was out of the team for nearly a year. I came to know later that every time when my name was discussed, he (Chappell) would find means to delay my comeback by 3-4 months."

In the book, Tendulkar has written, "No one from the BCCI managed to call me or inform me of my removal as captain before someone from the media called to say I was no longer captain. I felt extremely humiliated to hear this."

While he recollects Chappell’s tenure as coach as the “worst” of his career, he says the Multan declaration was the one which hurt him the most. According to reports, Dravid said, "On being asked on Multan declaration I once mentioned that if I get a rupee on this question, I would become a millionaire. When you have sixteen years together, which me and Sachin have had as players, there are going to be times when you will have disagreements."

Meanwhile, when spoke about the first days with Tendulkar, Ganguly reportedly said, "Sachin was a sleepwalker. He was my room-mate at the MRF pace academy. We stayed in a hotel in Mount Road, Chennai. I saw him get up and walk around the room in the dead of night and lost sleep after that.”

However, Anjali said that her life with the legend was not easy. She revealed, "People think it is very glamorous, but it’s tough. Whenever your husband gets out early, India loses; you feel personally that you have done something wrong. And travelling with kids was never easy."